Producer Licensing Bill Under Consideration In Hawaii

Hawaii’s Joint Senate-House conference committee is considering SB 1068, a bill aimed at modernizing Hawaii’s licensing law by streamlining the licensing process and increasing national licensing uniformity.

The National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) urged the committee to adopt SB 1068 with a specific licensing exemption in the state for employees who provide routine services to policyholders on existing contracts.

Sam Sorich, vice president and western regional manager for NAII, stated that the bill puts Hawaii in compliance with the reciprocity requirements of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act. Enactment of SB 1068 will improve producer licensing procedures and preserve state insurance regulation.

The Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing Committee approved SB 1068 in February with the direction that NAII, the Division of Insurance and others work to reach an agreement on the customer service representative (CSR) licensing exemption. The NAII has been anxious to reach an accord on the exemption but opponents of the exemption have refused to budge from their position.

According to Sorich, the CSR licensing exemption is consistent with the goal of modernizing state insurance regulation. The exemption allows insurance companies and agencies to provide immediate, efficient and economical services to their existing customers.